European Cup News:Ulster's chances of making the knockout stages of the Heineken European Cup are extremely slim - in effect, they need a victory with two bonus points - so the loss of their frontline halfback pairing for the coming fortnight was hardly the break they needed.
With David Humphreys sidelined until February, the news that Kiwi scrumhalf Isaac Boss suffered "severe trauma to the AC joint in his right shoulder with extensive soft tissue damage and bony bruising to the joint" against Glasgow last weekend is a headache to Mark McCall and, of course, Eddie O'Sullivan.
"At this stage, treatment and reassessment of the injury are ongoing and a return-to-rugby date is difficult to ascertain. It is anticipated however, that he should be fit before the beginning of the Six Nations campaign in February," read an Ulster Branch statement.
Boss has been developing into a potential foil to Peter Stringer at international level, but his lack of game time may prompt O'Sullivan to look elsewhere for a reserve number nine ahead of the opening Six Nations game at the Millennium Stadium on February 4th.
Kieran Campbell and Paddy Wallace, both full internationals, will fill the void this Saturday as Pool Five leaders Llanelli come to Ravenhill (kick-off 1.35pm, live on Sky Sports).
Ulster trail the Welsh by eight points, so to qualify they require a bonus point win this weekend, a win in Toulouse next week and for the Scarlets to be shut out by London Irish at Stradey Park in round six. All three scenarios are unlikely.
An investigation by ERC disciplinary officer Roger O'Connor over allegations of racist remarks by Ulster lock Matt McCullough continues.
Leinster have selected flanker Niall Ronan at inside centre for this afternoon's A fixture against Ulster at Suttonians RFC. An update on the progress of injuries to Girvan Dempsey and Ronan McCormack will be available tomorrow ahead of Saturday's round five meeting with Edinburgh at Donnybrook.
Edinburgh captain Chris Paterson will be in rehab throughout this week after sustaining some soft tissue damage to his back during the Magners Celtic League victory over Llanelli at Murrayfield last Friday, but he should be available for selection. Mike Blair and former Ulster lock Matt Mustchin are further injury concerns.
Munster's historic match against Bourgoin at the Stade de Geneve in Switzerland, the 80th venue to be used in this competition, will not have John O'Sullivan and Trevor Halstead, both of whom were injured during last Friday's defeat to the Newport Gwent Dragons.
"O'Sullivan's injury (medial ligament) is the more serious in that he is expected to be out of action for six weeks, while Halstead (calf strain) has not been ruled out of consideration for the final pool game against Leicester Tigers on January 20th," read a Munster statement.
Barry Murphy, Denis Leamy and Jeremy Manning are expected to be available for selection, while Jerry Flannery took a full part is yesterday's training session. But this weekend may have come a little too soon for the Irish hooker.
LEINSTERA: R McCarron; F Carr, M Berne, N Ronan, S Grissing; J Sexton, M D'Arcy; J Lyne, A O'Sullivan, R Sweeney; A Byrnes, D Toner; K McLaughlin (capt), D Laffan, D Dillon. Replacements: P Doran-Jones, C Culleton, K Moloney, AN Other, D Coughlan, F McFadden, A Dunne, V Artemiev.
